Green
by Silva Jupiter
Summary: She’s tried so hard for so long to become something great for him and now she might have made it. Watch your favorite Weapon’s Mistress “blossom”. A Neji/Ten fic. minor Naru/Hina, Saku/Sasu...
1. Chapter 1

**STORY: Green – um… yeah… I suck at titles. If you guys can come up with a better one I'd be delighted. But for now, I'm sticking with the first thing that made semi-sense.**

**RATING: T (for now, it might go up or down. Idk… I can't write lemons so it'll probably stay T)**

**QUICK SYNOPSIS: She's tried so hard for so long to become something great for him and now she might have made it. Watch your favorite Weapon's Mistress "blossom". A Neji/Ten fic. **

**BLAH BLAH BLAH – I DO NOT OWN NARUTO – BLAH BLAH BLAH**

**ENJOY!!**

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An unearthly silence permeated the dense woods. Emerald vines snaked across the thick trunks of hundred year old trees and luscious green moss covered the ground, causing the entirety of the scenery to appear as a rainbow of greens – from an olive color to the brightest of limes. The only thing giving away her position was this strange jade scene. She'd thought that she'd dressed appropriately for hiding herself in the woods – a long-sleeved black shirt, dark camouflage pants, thin black gloves, and black hiking boots adorned her petite figure – but her ostentatious mask gave her away.

Damn ANBU procedures. _This mask will be the death of me!_ She thought, her gloved fingers going up to stroke the glittery red face of a dragon. In a normal situation, the dragon would have appeared fearsome; its scales had a realistic metal shine, the rim of its eyes were pure gold and filled with malice that only a skilled artist could have captured (the pupils were, in fact, the woman's own dark eyes – her only view into the world around her), and its teeth shone with even more brilliance then the rest of the mask. However, in the greenery of the forest it seemed almost ridiculous and a tad bit… Christmasy.

She was aware of this too. The calm and collected façade she normally gave off was filled with a distracted aura as she continued to touch her mask self-consciously. She wished she could take it off, but the instant the thought entered her mind it was erased as the treacherously professional side of her took over, reciting the ANBU handbook by heart: _One does not remove their mask. The mask is to cover not just your identity, but to protect Konoha from being implicated in the case that you are completing a secret mission. If you remove your mask under any circumstances, other then life-or-death circumstances, you will be pulled from the ANBU ranks. In extreme cases, some jounin have been demoted even further and there is one case in which a shinobi was exiled from the village for this offense._

She snorted at that. _I wonder what Neji would say if I told him my "reprimanding voice" sounded just like him? _And then she giggled.

The instant the high, tinkling sound escaped her, she knew she was in trouble. Silence had been essential – crucial – to finishing her mission alive. "Damn it all!" She swore and leaped just as twenty ninja seemed to magically appear below her on the forest floor.

Her leap was just in time. The vines that had been twisted around her branch constricted, snapping it in two. She didn't have time to be shocked at this level of mastery, as her flight pattern intersected with a rain of various weaponry sent her way by the waiting enemy ninja below.

_You don't defeat a weapon's mistress with weapons. _She thought, a smile tugging at her lips as she lifted her hands into the air. The weapons halted, their shining steel beautiful in the eerie forest. She made no signs, as none were needed – she had long ago mastered the techniques of her clan, which included a complete, hand-sign-free mastery over weapons. The instant the barrage of weapons halted, she flipped in the air and landed nimbly on the ground, her chakra extending outwards and flipping the weapons as well so that they fell towards their owners. The ninja on the ground hurriedly dispersed. Some protected themselves with hastily made chakra-shields. Others ran for their lives, only to be cut down as the knives and shuriken rained down by the hundreds.

The remaining 12 men and women shook themselves off. The weapons mistress flashed a smile behind her blood-red mask and continued her fight. _At least the Kazekage respects me enough to give me a real challenge – I guess he knew that no ordinary ninja could have stolen his famous scrolls._

A kounichi with a beautiful face and flowing black hair attacked her first. Our hero snorted and blocked the girl's blow without much difficulty. "Is that all you've got?" She taunted the girl, and was rewarded with a well-placed kick in the stomach. As she was knocked back, her breath gone for a moment before she recovered, she realized she'd underestimated the girl. "I guess you got to be a shinobi not just for your good looks, huh?"

The black-haired beauty didn't reply. Her red eyes were narrowed dangerously though as she fought. Tenten – as you might have guessed our hero is – smiled at the girl's determination. _She reminds me of… me…._

That stray thought didn't keep her from quickly dispatching of the girl, a well-placed blow to her head knocking her into a blissful unconsciousness.

Now the real fight came. They came at her by the threes, their faces filled with the hunger for blood and Tenten was forced to kill in order to avoid being killed.

Twenty minutes later, they were all down. Only the black-haired girl was alive, her fall into unconsciousness saving her from the cruel unknown of death. Tenten might be a skilled shinobi, but she was no murderer. She would kill only if her life was in danger and only then. She would NOT kill someone who couldn't defend themselves, as it was in the case of the sleeping girl.

She sighed as she took in her surroundings, ears perked for any sound of more enemies. Slowly, as she realized she was out of danger (for now at least) she relaxed. Her hard, lean, muscles lost most of their tension and she allowed her body to feel the tiredness that she'd been holding at bay until she finished with her battle. The weariness seeped in and she had to grab onto a tree to keep from collapsing. She shuddered when she realized the tree she had taken support on was no longer green, but a sickening red color. And it wasn't the only thing – the entire scene before her was nothing more then a massacre. Blood was sprayed across the luscious emerald of the forest, the glistening liquid causing bile to rise up in her throat.

_I will not puke – I will not puke – I will NOT puke! _She thought as she swallowed down her disgust. She'd always hated this part of being a skilled ninja. She was in it for the challenge and because she wanted to protect her village and those she loved, but never had she been in it for the death and destruction she had to cause. As she viewed the mangled bodies, most with weapons sticking into vital body parts (except for one unlucky fellow who died when she had ducked a chakra-propelled kick sent at her and had been hit with it instead), she was reminded of the reasons why so many in her profession went to counseling or simply went insane.

Finally, she turned away. No one could see behind her mask, so if anyone had seen her they would have probably assumed she was dismissing the dead, but in reality she was crying. It was her job, she knew, to kill, but that didn't mean she had to like all of it, especially not this… horror… this plain and simple repulsive scene.

A swift prayer was sent up to whatever God was out there for the souls of those she'd been forced to kill and then she was on her way. A trail of weapons, almost of their own accord, followed her. Only those trained to spot chakra in its many forms would have noticed the girl's unnaturally chakra-charged aura or the strange strings that strapped each weapon to her.

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"Rising Twin Dragons – Metal warriors!" The cry echoed in the almost empty clearing. Tenten's hands moved rapidly together in a series of hand symbols, her chocolate eyes lighting up as two ferocious metal dragons appeared behind her. These were nothing like the pathetic smoke-and-mirror ones she used in her genin days, but the most powerful and difficult of their kind to summon. One was silver, the other gold and both were intertwined in a breath-taking array of shining and deadly splendor.

Her opponent, a long-haired Hyuga, stared with eyes alight in joy as well as fear. As the giant creatures untangled themselves, **she **gasped and stuttered out, "T-tenten! T-That's spectacular! You did it!"

Yes, the long-haired Hyuga was none other then the heir to the Hyuga legacy – the timid Hinata. Her violet hair was tied back into a high ponytail – a trick she had to revert to so as to keep the long locks from covering her eyes during a battle. Her wide, innocent eyes were the classic silver of the Hyuga clan, but filled with less malice and anger then the other Hyugas Tenten had met over the years. A simple pair of black capris and a violet long-sleeve turtleneck were her modest clothes, though on her mature form they looked spectacular. Being all of eighteen year old, she should have moved on from her childish crush on Naruto but had yet to outgrow the love and admiration she'd felt for him.

Tenten didn't smile back at her friend. Instead, her face was concentrated upwards, towards her metal creation. This had been her final step in her personal training; the last advancement before she ran out of clan techniques and had to move on to mere "normal" shinobi techniques.

_So long… I've waited so long for this… and finally… _she shivered from the thrill of it all. Ever since her pathetic attempt at the Chuunin exams to show she was a worthy ninja, she had been working day and night to become stronger.

She wasn't like Sakura, who had the privilege to train with the almighty Hokage-sama, Tsunade. And she wasn't like Neji or Hinata, both of whom had someone alive to teach them the ways and special abilities of the clan they both belonged to. Instead, she was forced to study for 2 years, becoming a bookworm, in an attempt to discover the scrolls and the secret techniques of her own dead clan.

Finally, after she had decided she'd discovered all that there was to know about the abilities she might possess, she began secretly training herself with only one close friend nearby to make sure she didn't do anything stupid (Hinata). She wanted her new-found power to be a surprise. She wanted to show everyone in Konoha that she wasn't pathetic or a push-over. She wanted to show them that she was one hell of a ninja. Someone worthy of the title of Jounin and even of ANBU. Someone worthy and strong enough to protect them and all that they stood for.

A small part of her had nagged her in her head, telling her that it wasn't just Konoha she worked hard for. She'd shaken that voice off, telling it to go away. But it always seemed to pop up whenever she fought him – or, to be more precise, whenever she _lost _to him.

_Neji. _

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He didn't know where she was. He never knew where she was anymore. Not just Tenten, but Hinata as well. _It's like girls have this secret girls-only world they disappear to just as you decide you want to see them or need to talk to them. _He thought, his stoic face not betraying his feelings to anyone, _and then when you don't want them around and you'd just rather be to yourself… BAM… they show up._

He snorted, his mind wandering to all the times Tenten had done just that to him. Their first time as a team he'd been the first person to arrive at their morning meeting. He'd been sitting alone, meditating in the peaceful quiet, when all of a sudden – "HI! MY NAME'S TENTEN! YOU MUST BE NEJI! ISN'T IT GREAT THAT WE'RE ON THE SAME TEAM?"

He had not leapt up in surprise nor screamed like a girl, as his instincts were telling him to. He was a Hyuga, and Hyugas never showed such undignified emotions. Instead, he'd simply opened a single eye, his Byakugan activated to make them seem more intimidating, and said, "No. It isn't. Go away."

She'd deflated quickly, a pout forming on her childish face. He had closed his eyes again, but the Byakugan allowed him to study her. He saw the lack of very toned muscles, though he noticed she did have a slender and agile body. He took in her hair, tied up in twin buns on the top of her head, and approved of the hairstyle. His eyes saw, and registered, the weapons she had expertly concealed all over her lithe form. No one else could have noticed them, except he was a genius as well as a Byakugan user and these things did not escape his notice. Everything about her was, surprisingly… appealing. Not in a sexual way, of course (though she was not ugly), but he had never met someone he had approved of so quickly. Especially a girl.

Everyone else had too many faults: too shy, too fat, too ugly, too impatient, too filthy, too loud, etc. But this girl... there was nothing he could find about her that he did not approve of. She was sensible, he could tell, for her outfit was simple and suited the lifestyle she had chosen to lead. She was intelligent. And she was obviously skilled with weaponry or combat of some sort. He found a strange emotion welling up in him, one he was not used to. _Is this what it's like to… actually __**like**__ someone?_

Of course, then she had to ruin it by leaving. He knew he'd told her too, but now that he'd actually decided to talk to her and figure out more about her, the fact that she'd decided to leave him alone annoyed him. He supposed he deserved it, his cold attitude had never been one for earning him friends, but he found that he was slightly mad at her for leaving him just as he'd decided to explore this new territory called friendship with her.

Now, in present-day Konoha, the two were the best of friends. Though he would rather take a kunai to the heart then admit it, he felt a kinship with her that no one else could awaken in him. Everything about her was so right that he couldn't help but realize he liked her. Even though he could beat her in combat in a heartbeat and even though she was obviously not the strongest or best of the shinobi, he still found himself liking her.

_Tenten_… he thought with an inward sigh. He just didn't know what to do anymore. He'd risen quickly in the Konoha ranks, from Chuunin to jounin to ANBU within a year, leaving her behind in his haste to prove himself to his Uncle Haishi and to the main branch. And then… he realized he still wasn't satisfied. He couldn't go any higher, but he still found a part of him was missing. A part that he'd never noticed was gone before then.

Her – Tenten – had been left behind by him. And he needed her back. So when he came back from his third disastrous mission (it had succeeded, but his entire team had died excepting him) he had realized he needed to find her again.

She was in the Konoha Library. He had no clue what she was doing in there (she'd acted suspiciously vague when he'd asked and had closed the scroll. The only words he had been able to read were "summon" and "steel". He hadn't asked her again because they'd been too busy catching up), but the instant he'd seen her again he'd felt a wave of… rightness… wash over him. Now that he'd gotten her back in his life things were good again.

Except they weren't. He had known she would rise through the ranks as well, but he hadn't realized she would do it so agonizingly _slow_. But she did, somehow using only the same techniques she'd used on him when they were just kids, as they'd sparred in the Hyuga training grounds. He'd never understand how she did it, but she had managed it and he wasn't about to complain.

Though he had always wondered about her and her family, he had never asked her much about them. He often wondered why she was so weak. Her mastery of weapons was unusual, to say the least, and he knew she belonged to an ancient clan, but he'd never really figured out the details. If her clan was supposed to be so powerful and ancient, then how come she never improved? Sure, as she grew older she could last longer in battle and she was second as a strategist among the ANBU ranks (loosing only to him) but he figured that her so-called powerful clan would have filled her in on their techniques by now. How could they expect her to survive on the little ammunition they'd given her?

"Neji!" He looked up to see the object of his thoughts coming into view. She was running, her toned legs flying as she ran and leapt at him. He barely had time to bring his hands up to catch her before she flew into his arms.

Neji was not a physical person. Nor was he particularly emotional, but he knew that Tenten was. She felt everything ten-fold. She was good with putting on a mask (after all, she learnt from the best – himself), but she would never disguise any feeling if it needed to be let out. And when she let out, he was usually the one she let out to. He'd been yelled at, punched, stabbed, hugged, and (worst of all) cried to, when she was in one of her moods. But he took it all in stride, letting himself become her one person she could show her true self to. However, this… proximity… was somewhat more disturbing now then it had been back when they were genin.

A hint of pink appeared on his normally pale cheeks as she proceeded to squeeze the life out of him. He could smell her hair and it smelled just like the fresh scent of strawberries combined with sweat and metal. He loved her smell, as it was both familiar and comforting. He inhaled, burying his nose in her head, letting his arms pull her close.

"Neji?" She pulled back, her milk-chocolate eyes wide at the unfamiliar feel of his arms around her.

He froze, realizing he'd unconsciously allowed himself to show his feelings, and immediately let go of her. She fell as he leapt back, tumbling to the ground and landing on her knees. A surprised, "OW!" was the only thing she said.

Unlike her, he was reserved. His feelings didn't come out no matter who he was around. She was the only person who'd seen him honest-to-goodness smile and he didn't regret that, but he knew there was a limit to the emotions he should show even her. And this emotion here, this emotion of caring, was not one of them. He was Hyuga Neji and Hyuga Neji didn't care. He was emotionless, impassive, and a human ice-cube.

_Just because you're a human ice cube doesn't mean you can't help her up, you know? _His inner voice retorted, breaking into his incoherent train of thought.

"Oh." He said aloud and he hastily came forward to help her up, his calloused hand gripping her gloved one and pulling until she was up. She dusted herself off, a brilliant smile touching the corners of her mouth as she did so.

"And what are _you_ so happy about?" He demanded gruffly, attempting to cover for his slip of emotion a second ago.

"Oh… nothing." She said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture.

His eyes narrowed, knowing she was lying. He hated being lied to, especially by the one person he considered himself closest to.

"Tenten…" he began, his voice dangerous.

She interpreted his unease at her lie, but was more stubborn then previously thought – "Okay… so it is something, or should I say someone. I just can't tell you what it is… yet." Insert another mysterious smile, "But you will find out eventually! I just need to work on it some more."

He nodded and "hned" his approval of her answer. She wasn't lying to him this time, though he did wish he knew what it was that made her so excited. Certainly not…

No… he thought… there's no way she would have a… He shook his head at his folly. _But she did say "someone" _his treacherous inner voice muttered, _so maybe she did find a lover on her latest mission. She was away for 2 months. _He cringed away from that thought, shutting down the hated inner before it could get in another word.

"Aww Neji!" She cried, thinking the angry look in his eyes was directed towards her and not towards his inner self, "It's not that I don't trust you. I just really want to spend time working on this without you…" she stopped as she realized what she said. Hurt appeared in his silver orbs and she hastily spoke to correct her mistake, "… NO! Not, not like that! I mean… I want to surprise you. I can't tell you yet because it's supposed to be a surprise!"

He nodded and turned, careful to keep his face as impassive as possible. He wouldn't… couldn't… let her know that she'd hurt him.

"Neji-kun! Please! Don't take it like that…" She begged, her nineteen year old body face wasn't as cute as her ten year old one, but she still managed to pull of the pleading look without a hitch. He sighed, knowing he could never resist the look in her eyes.

"Just don't keep me waiting. I don't like secrets – especially ones kept from me." He muttered to her, giving up on being mad or hurt by her secrets.

She immediately brightened up and proposed, "A spar, Neji. We need to go and spar."

He looked at her again. She was dirty and tired, he could tell, but there was an air of confidence about her which he had never felt from her before. She'd always been so self-conscious, despite being a qualified ANBU and a skilled shinobi. Now, it was as if she miraculously fit into her role of a ninja and there was no denying her profession as he took in the muscles he'd never noticed she'd had before as well as the scratches and scars that were distributed all over her small frame.

"Hn…" he said thoughtfully, his eyes still scanning her. He tried to make this look appear professional, as if he was sizing her up, but he realized that halfway through the process he began checking her out. She was gorgeous. No man in his right mind could resist her perfect figure. His eyes traveled up from the glimpse of perfect porcelain skin that showed just below the end of her pants. They slid over the loose khakis, knowing they hid legs as muscled and perfect as the rest of her body, and up to her Ino-worthy stomach and bust (personally, he thought Ino was ugly, but he had to admit she kept a nice form). He gulped as he saw the way her shirt stuck to her body – sweaty from some previous exercise. Then his eyes slid up to her face.

He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised by her looks by now, but it was as if every time he saw her he was seeing her all over again. He never got tired of the cute curve of her pink lips or brightness in her eyes. He took in the slightly round cheeks, noticing how they made her seem young and innocent and her doe-like eyes did nothing to help contradict that assumption. Her hair was always up in her classic twin buns, the stray strands falling into her eyes and framing her picturesque features. He always knew she was beautiful, but it wasn't until recently (since his nineteenth birthday, to be precise) that he truly noticed these things.

"Neji?" her lips moved and he was transfixed on the sight of her scrumptious figure, "um… Neji? Anyone home?" His oogling was stopped as she began snapping in front of him while waving her hand in a crazy attempt to snap him out of his reverie.

"hn… sure. I'll spar with you, but only if you promise me one thing." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for his condition, "If I win, you tell me one thing about yourself that I don't already know. Does that sound fair?"

It was a pathetic attempt to get her to open up to him, and they both knew it, but it sounded so interesting that she couldn't help but agree. Neji had never shown an interest in her personal life before, other then one or two questions about why she was late and if everything was okay on the days she seemed distracted.

They sparred. She lost. The next day, they sparred again. And the next, and the next, and so on.

They hadn't sparred everyday since they were on the same team as genin. Even when she'd become ANBU they'd both been too distracted by their new responsibilities to practice against each other. Now, they renewed that relationship of enemies and friends – each helping the other to become stronger and better little by little.

Just like when they were genin, she always lost. Neji didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary and accepted it, but every now and then he had the strange feeling that she was holding back and it frustrated him so much that he would sometimes be a little tougher then necessary on her.

She took it all in stride. She understood his frustration, as she experienced it often when they'd been genin and he'd held back on hurting her. Now, she was too busy hiding her new techniques from him and the rest of Konoha. She was waiting. Waiting for the perfect time to whip them out and prove to everyone, especially him, that she was no weakling and she knew that the upcoming tests would be perfect for proving her skill.

So for now, she lost. And lost. And lost. And every time she lost, she told him one thing about herself he didn't know. She told him about her childhood dream, about her failures and successes, about missions he'd missed, about her opinions towards politics, about… everything that was completely pointless but somehow seemed relevant for him to know. Despite her desire to tell him everything about her, the one thing she endeavored to keep private was information about her family and her clan as well the practices she put herself through each night to strengthen her techniques.

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"Hey…" huff "Hinata?" huff "Has Neji…" puff "seemed…" CLANG ".. I don't know… different" SCREEEECH "to you lately?" Tenten managed to ask as they practiced in the same small field as before.

It was a month since her completion of the Metal Dragon technique and since then her and Hinata had been meeting every noon until sundown to spar and try out new techniques.

In reality, Tenten was somewhat using Hinata. She knew that the girl possessed the same techniques as Neji and knew that, if she could study Hinata's Byakugan and defeat her, then she could defeat Neji. Hinata was also using Tenten as a way to train herself against one of her main weaknesses – weapons. In hand-to-hand combat the silver-eyed woman excelled, but when it came to protecting herself from a barrage of weapons… well… she needed some practice.

That's not to say that Hinata wasn't a skilled ninja. Quite the opposite, in fact. She had sped through the ranks to become one of Konoha's greatest assets. Her kaiten, however, was weaker then that of Neji's and so she had trouble with blocking long-range attacks such as the ones Tenten was so used to. Ever since Tenten had approached her a year ago with the proposition of training to their mutual benefit, she had been improving at an alarming rate. On her last mission, the shy heiress had managed to create the perfect kaiten and block a group of needles which were flying her way. Never had she been so thrilled with herself.

They sparred now, both using no chakra and practicing hand-to-hand as well as weaponry combat. They used whatever they could to gain the upperhand, just as they would do in an ordinary battle (albeit with no chakra available).

"Yes…" Hinata whipped around with a knife in her hand and stabbed, aiming for Tenten's outstretched arm. The weapon's mistress parried the thrust and twirled, needles flying from the tips of her black gloves to fly in all directions.

Hinata took them in various areas – the poison-tipped barbs embedding themselves in her thighs as well as her back as she turned around to avoid getting hit in the eye. She barely winced as they cut into her deeply. Instead, she turned around with the speed of an enraged demon and leapt into the air, taking advantage of her friend's non-stop twirling, and aimed a kick at her spinning form.

It landed dead on, sending the unfortunate Tenten flying back twenty feet to land with a loud "umph!" in the dirt. Not a second had passed before she managed to recover and sprint back towards her opponent.

Both girls were smiling as they finally ran out of breath and energy. Neither had won, but the battle hadn't been about winning – it had been about the challenge. Uncapping her waterbottle, Tenten poured the contents right onto her head, soaking her muddy and scratched face. Hinata giggled at her friend's antics, but did the same to herself after administering the antidote to the poison that was in her system from Tenten's needle attack. Soon, the two of them were both thoroughly drenched.

Tenten smiled evilly as a thought struck her, "We might as well go swimming seeing as we're already so wet."

Hinata looked puzzled, "But there's no water…" Before she could even complete her sentence, she found herself falling into Konoha's famous Leaf Park Lake. She spluttered as she hit the water, spraying it onto all the unlucky citizens who lounged on the lakeside.

As she resurfaced, stammering her embarrassment and indignation, she saw Tenten. Righteous anger was replaced with humor at the sight of her friend swimming gaily in the pond, as if she hadn't a care in the world.

She shook her head in amusement, still a bright pink from her embarrassment, and trudged out of the lake, wringing out her dark lavender hair. "Hinata?" She froze, like a deer caught in the headlights, as she identified the voice that spoke to her, "What are you doing swimming in Leaf Park Lake? Isn't that like… against the law or something?" Naruto, in all his blonde, shining, glory, was staring at her in puzzlement, his mouth open in surprise and wonder while he nodded towards a sign posted next to the lakeside. It clearly said "NO SWIMMING. Those who choose to ignore this will be fined heavily."

"I didn't know you were the rule-breaker type." Naruto said and she looked from the sign to him in surprise. He looked… impressed. _If all it took to make him notice me was breaking the law, then I should've done this years ago._

"W-well… I-I-I… um…" her blush was amplified as she attempted to reply while also attempting to cover up her drenched form. _Oh great – I probably look like a wet rat. _She thought regretfully and then, resigning herself to embarrassment, she continued her reply, "I didn't exactly p-plan on it. T-tenten-sama managed to trick me into it after our training."

She was surprised to notice he still seemed impressed. She'd thought he would've left by now – bored out of his mind by her unadventurous spirit and her ridiculous stammer. At least, that's what he'd done all the other times.

"Ah… Tenten tricked you into it?" He laughed, his merry face lighting up with mischief as he continued, "Maybe next time we can train together! That way I can be the one going swimming with you instead!"

The blush she'd worn before was nothing to the one which flared up on her face now. She was certain she was about to die of the heat coming from her cheeks, but instead of the faint which she usually used as her escape from the ferocity of her blush, she felt a small amount of strength ooze to the surface of her mind and she managed a slightly-coherent reply, "O-oh course Naruto-kun… I… uh… w-would love to train w-with y-you. I doubt I c-could beat y-you though."

"It's not all about winning! It's about learning and improving. We can both help each other! I'll train with you to make you strong enough to beat Hiashi-sama and you'll train with me so I can learn your style! Yeah?" He gave her a thumbs up – his enthusiasm rivaling that of a hyper Lee's. Hinata, however, found this endearing rather then alarming and graciously accepted with a quiet smile.

When the over-excitable boy had made his exit, screaming something about being hungry and eating ramen, Hinata could do nothing but stand there staring after him in a trance. It wasn't until she was sprayed with water that she realized what she'd done.

"Oh… Oh… I… I-I-I…" she looked at Tenten, who stared back with a wicked glint of amusement in her eyes. "Did you _plan _this?" She demanded of the weapons mistress.

"Nope, but I must say this day has turned out quite… positive…" She smirked and dived under the surface when Hinata attempted to attack her.

The two friends lay drying out in the sun less then an hour later. Hinata couldn't help but notice that Tenten seemed distracted since Naruto and her had agreed to train together and so Hinata timidly asked, "You aren't _mad _that I told him I would spar with him? I won't stop my spars with you, I-I just want to be able to show him what I'm capable of. This might be m-my only c-chance…"

Tenten soothed her frantic friend with a shake of her head, "Not at all Hinata! I think it's great that you and Naruto are finally spending time together. You'll win his heart over in no time. I'm just… thinking."

"About…" Hinata prompted.

A faint tinge of pink burned on Tenten's face as she attempted to calmly reply, "Oh… just… Neji."

"Just Neji?" Hinata was amused now, waiting for her friend to explain more, "What about 'just Neji'?"

"um… doyouthinki'mgoodenoughtobeathimnow?"

"Huh?"

"Um… Do you think I could…. You know… beat him now? In a battle…"

"Oh! Yes, definitely. I think you've gained a fair amount of power over this past year. You've learnt so many new tricks that he won't know what to do." Hinata rolled over to stare at Tenten's worried face and said, "You know… if you wanted to impress him… there are easier ways."

Tenten gulped and then glared at the lavender-haired woman next to her, "I am not trying to impress him, I simply aim to… kick his ass…" She laughed evilly and then took her wet locks of ebony hair and fanned them out behind her head like an angel's halo. "I wish… I wish I could be good enough for him though… that's all I've ever wanted. Since we were put on the same team 9 years ago…"

Hinata listened and then frowned, "Tenten… you are _more _then good enough for him. He's only human, albeit an extremely talented, handsome, perfect human, but still a human. Plus, Neji actually _likes _you – that's more then anyone else can claim. Don't be so hard on yourself…" She paused and then figured she might as well address the real issue, "He might even love you… if you told him how you really felt."

Tenten leapt to her feet, her cheeks flaming darker then even Hinata's were when talking to Naruto, "I do NOT like that arrogant jerk! I don't love him! I just… I'm tired of being a burden to everyone, especially him! God! – don't speak to me about love! It's a wasted emotion! Especially on someone who could never love me back! Especially towards a human ice cube!"

And then she stormed off, her face flaming red from anger mixed with chagrin. All Hinata could do to was watch as her friend ran away from the one enemy that couldn't be defeated by her precious weapons.

"Someday soon, Tenten… you will have to acknowledge that you love him. He is more capable of love then you might suspect and he isn't going to be able to deal with his feelings if you don't show him how to."

Tenten had stopped dead at the sound of Hinata's soft voice calling out to her, but as soon as she heard the end of her reprimand she continued on. Hinata sighed, thinking about all that the two lovers would miss if they didn't learn to cope with their true feelings. _Poor Tenten… Neji would stop the world for you. If only you could see it…_

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**And that is the end. I had totally planned on a one-shot, but I guess this'll have to be a tad bit longer. Maybe another chapter or so??**

**I guess we'll see!**

**Anways, this is one of my first stories so please review! I could do with the criticism/compliments/whatever-you-want-to-say-so-long-as-it's-relevant stuff.**

**Oh yeah and I apologize to ppl who read my other story, I'm having serious writers block, hence why I wrote this instead of the next chapter. DON'T HATE ME!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey again. Short authors note:**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**(told you it'd be short)**

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It was finally here. The day she'd been waiting for ever since her humiliating defeat in front of thousands at the Chuunin exams. It was her day to prove herself to all those people who saw her fail and there was no way anything was going to ruin this day for her.

Except…

"BABI! IF YOU ATE MY HAIRTIES I WILL TOTALLY KILL YOU!!" she screeched, running through the house after an energetic black puppy.

She turned the corner into her living room, skidding on the ground as her socks touched the hardwood floors, and then continued her pursuit of her pet. The Labrador ran into her kitchen and, leaping over her couch, she managed to corner it in the pantry. Upon seeing the pathetic look her new dog was giving her, she almost gave up her anger, but not before scolding it and holding up her shredded hairties as evidence of his crimes.

"How could you Babi? I have to keep my hair out of my eyes! I work with _weapons _for goodness sakes! I could lose my hair if a stray kunai cuts through it! Don't do it again! If I catch you, there will be no more dessert for a week, okay?" She lectured him before reaching down to pick him up and tickle his chocolate-brown tummy. He was the exact same color as her hair and eyes, which is why she'd chosen him to begin with. The other reason for her choice was the fact that he was also an orphan, found abandoned by Kiba and Akamaru while on their last mission. The dog boy had come straight to her and asked if she'd wanted him, knowing her fondness for orphaned creatures and she'd happily accepted the squirming puppy. The dog had become a member of the family to her, like a son or daughter, and she was often found talking to him whenever she was at home.

"I guess I'll just have to use _that_ one." She muttered, her feet making no noise as she walked through her abandoned mansion. Not only was her house far too big for just one person, which was why she was sure to always have at least one pet living with her at all times, but it was her clan's headquarters and so had more then enough empty rooms filled with random items left there by their old owners. Tenten's breathing quickened as she stepped into the dust-covered room next to her own. This had been her parents' room. She wanted to close her eyes so as to not see the light-green color on the walls and the cream of the silken sheets, but couldn't because she had to find it…

There it was! She rushed over to the dresser, picking up one of the most beautiful hairclips she'd ever laid eyes on. It was an ornate dragon clip that had belonged to her deceased mother. She'd always admired the design on it, but had never dared wear it before. _I suppose it is sort of appropriate to wear it now. _She thought, _After all, this is the day I prove I am an elite member of my clan. I might as well wear my clan's symbol somehow._

So she took up the golden clip and then grabbed her shoulder-length straight hair and twisted it back, clamping it firmly up in the back of her head. Only a few stray strands came down, framing her flushed face. She nervously patted her hair, making certain it wouldn't come down, and, having assured herself it was completely secure, she made a face at the dusty mirror before leaving. She shut the door behind her, hearing the echo of finality in the click of the lock, before she went and got dressed.

After discarding her pajamas and getting into her usual camo pants and a black t-shirt, she was ready. Babi playfully bounded after her as she hopped around the kitchen, trying to simultaneously get her breakfast made while pulling on her boots, weapons, and specially-made gloves.

Finally, she exited the house. Nervously, she patted Babi's head goodbye and muttered, "This is it. I'm going to do this today. I'll prove to him… that is… them…that I'm powerful."

Her only response was a whine as he delicately licked her hand goodbye. She smiled at him, sadly, and walked away towards the center of the city.

As she strolled towards the arena in which the annual Konoha Leaf festival was held, she felt a number of people staring at her and she wondered if maybe she had a piece of breakfast stuck in her teeth or something.

"Wow. Tenten. Your hair…" Haruno Sakura approached her with a bright smile, pointing out the kunoichi's obvious change in hairstyle. "It looks so beautiful done up like that. Where did you get the hairclip? It's so gorgeous! Is it an antique?"

"You could say that…" Tenten muttered, too nervous to reply as happily as she normally would have.

Sakura babbled on, seemingly unaware of her friend's discomfort. "Well… whatever it is, it looks stunning on you. So are you planning on challenging anyone today? Or are you just here to watch the fights. I hear that Naruto has challenged everyone in our class." She shook her head at the blonde's antics, "Sometimes I wonder about him… Oh well! I'm just planning on watching. I'm also being forced to attend as the official medic nin just in case some of the challengers take it a little too far. I guess I'll see you there! Don't get yourself into any trouble!"

And with that, the pink-haired woman skipped off, headed off to walk with Ino. Tenten hadn't said more then four words the entire conversation, but she felt exhausted from just listening to the bubbly Chuunin.

Her mind wandered as she took each step. Her stomach was doing flip-flops and she struggled to control her own body. She was so _nervous_. She knew she could beat Neji. She knew that she could win this match, but she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she messed up. She couldn't afford another humiliating public defeat like last time. Her plan for today left no room for screw ups or mistakes. She _had_ to get this right and she _had_ to succeed. For herself and for Neji.

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Neji stared gloomily at the growing crowd. _Stupid festival. I can't believe they make a national holiday out of watching ninjas fight each other. Pathetic… _

"H-hey Neji!" He inclined his head at his cousin as she took a seat next to him. Currently, they stood in a large outdoor arena – the same one the Chuunin exams took place in – with the hot sun beating in on them. _Damn sun. Damn festival. Damn… Tenten? _

"Hey Neji! Hey Hinata! You excited about the festival today?" Tenten gushed as she made her way towards them. He might have been a Hyuga, but that didn't stop him from gaping at her in a very indignified manner.

"uh… Neji?" She questioned, "You might want to close your mouth… there's a fly about to go in it."

He shut it quick, and then glared at her. "I was aware of that. I was yawning…" _Wow… that was a pathetic excuse. _"You did your hair different today. Do you have a date or something for the festival?"

He didn't know why those words flew out of his mouth with such venom attached, but he could see the confusion in her face as he spat them at her.

"Uh… no. No date. Babi ate my hairties." She blushed then, and he snorted in amusement and… relief? Where did that emotion come from, he wondered? Why was he relieved that she didn't have a date? Shouldn't he _want _her to be happy with someone else?

He brushed the troublesome thoughts aside as she settled in on his other side and started conversing in whispers with Hinata. He wanted to ask what they were discussing, but figured it was some girly stuff that he didn't want to know about so he held his tongue. A half-hour went by, with friends coming up to greet them and enemies glaring daggers at them from across the stadium, before Tsunade made her appearance.

She was wearing her "Hokage costume" (as it was called by Tenten and her friends), and the purple-red silken robes draped gracefully around her slender, yet busty, figure. They were beautifully made and probably cost about half the village, but they were certainly worth the money. Intricate patterns laced with gold decorated the hems and the high collar provided the perfect look of sophistication. Tsunade would always tell Sakura, "I love those robes. I never feel like a real Hokage until I wear them. There's just something about being dressed up in splendor that makes you feel splendid."

Truly she did look splendid, but the occasion called for it. She made a short speech, giving the history of the Konoha Leaf Festival and the rules for the battles (NO killing) before she announced, "And now let the games begin! The first challenger is: Ino to Sakura!"

Neji snorted when he realized that the two still held onto their life-long rivalry. It was ridiculous, especially now that the Uchiha had flown the coop. And wasn't Ino dating Shikamaru now? He shrugged, dismissing the battle as one of those things girls do that he'll never quite understand.

Sakura won, but only just barely, and the next group of fighters came up and began. Hours crawled by until it was just after lunchtime when all of a sudden he was awakened from his daydreaming by the Hokage's voice.

"Our next two contestants are going to make for an interesting battle. Everyone – Tenten and Neji."

Neji remained sitting, certain that he'd misheard the esteemed Hokage. There was no way that Tenten had challenged _him_ to a fight in front of the entirety of Konoha. She wouldn't want to humiliate herself like that. He had to have not heard right…

If he hadn't heard right then why was Tenten getting up now. Why was she walking away? Why was she glancing back and beckoning for him to follow? What was going on!?

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Tenten felt a spark of regret when she saw the confusion etched in Neji's features. She had known that she couldn't warn him ahead of time, but she hadn't expected him to take it so… un-Hyuga-like. He was flustered, for the first time since she'd met him, and she was the cause for it. Wanting to explain, she beckoned to him on their way to the arena to battle, and waited for him to make his way to her.

"Tenten…" he muttered, looking down at her as they took the stairs down towards the arena, "I don't understand…"

She sighed in frustration, wishing she could explain that she needed to defeat someone with his unbeatable status in order to prove herself, but she knew that he would only laugh at her assumption that beating him was possible. She'd played her cards right, by making certain that he never knew of her newfound strength. She knew all of his tricks but he knew nothing of hers. She was here to prove herself and he was only here because she forced him into it. "I… I – I… I'm sorry Neji."

He stopped, staring at her in undisguised shock as she hung her head, "You… you actually think you're going to beat me?"

She ignored the insult in his voice because she knew it was only there because she'd made certain the Tenten he saw was someone who couldn't beat him. "I'm certainly going to try Neji. I have to ask one more favor of you though…" She looked up into his pearlescent eyes and made certain he was listening, "Don't hold back Neji. No matter what happens, I have to show them that I am able to take on the best at his best. Don't hold back on me Neji because I won't hold back on you."

She didn't wait to see the look on his face as she said that. Instead, she forged her way ahead, making her way nervously onto the field of the arena. Her mouth was dry and she felt tears of emotion well up in her eyes as she took in the crowd of spectators all excitedly chatting about the upcoming battle. _This is it. Last time I was here I failed. This time I'm going to prove myself for once and for all. I just hope Neji doesn't hate me afterwards..._

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Neji didn't know what to make of the situation. Her threatening words hung in his mind – _Don't hold back on me Neji because I won't hold back on you – _What the hell was that supposed to mean? She wasn't even that strong! She didn't know anything. She could hardly keep up with him going half his normal pace!

Angrily, he took his place across from her on the field. _I'll show her. She's no match for me and she shouldn't act like she is. _

He knew his thoughts were full of arrogance, but he felt no regret for thinking them. His stupid manly pride had been insulted and he wasn't about to let Tenten get away with that insult.

The crowd was completely ignored as he took his stance, waiting for her to make the first move. He watched her hands, waiting for the old hand signs he knew she'd make. Unfortunately, she didn't move. He continued waiting, knowing that she'd have to be the one to attack first, but she still didn't move. Finally, he took a step forward and, before he could say "I'm an idiot." He was down for the count, with a hundred shuriken pinning him to the wall of the arena.

"Aww… Neji… that's no fun! I told you to not hold back on me! Stop underestimating me and actually battle!" She taunted him, her brown eyes dancing mischievously as all of the shuriken removed themselves and flew behind her, as if awaiting the signal to strike again.

He fell, his shirt full of rips and tears, onto the dirt ground and felt his cheeks heat up with anger and humiliation. How dare she taunt him like this! Tenten was supposed to be weak! He was supposed to kick her ass every time and he'd just been defeated in less then 2 seconds!

He just barely managed to calm himself down, his anger being suppressed by his more curious side, "When did you learn that little trick?" He wondered, nodding at the weapons that still stayed suspended in the air behind her. He'd never known her to have this measure of control over metal. She'd always had to use a bunch of hand signals or even a scroll to have this amount of control over them, now it appeared to come effortlessly.

"Oh… here and there." She replied vaguely and then grinned evilly, "Just wait until you see the rest of my 'tricks'."

With that taunt the battle took off at supernatural speeds. He found himself attacking her with every ounce of energy he had. His Byakugan was activated as soon as he realized he couldn't keep up with the speed she was moving at without it. As soon as his bloodlimit came into play, the world slowed down a tad bit, each knife thrown his was stood out in the air and he could dodge them easier. This did not mean, however, that he escaped harm completely. No – the famous Hyuga had sustained a few scratches before he could keep up with her rate. And now it was his turn to turn on the heat.

"Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!" He cried, thrusting the palm of his hand forward so that a burst of chakra was sent her way. She wasn't fast enough to escape an attack of this caliber so instead she screamed her own jutsu out, "KAITEN!"

Neji stared slack-jawed as she spun, her feet almost leaving the ground as she twirled faster then humanly possible. Then, he ducked as his own expelled chakra rebounded off her shield and came flying back in his direction. The chakra hit the far wall, leaving a noticeable dent, as Tenten began to slow her spinning.

He gave her no chance to recover from his attack, immediately crying out, "Gentle fist!" and attacking her directly before she managed to stop her momentum. As his hand connected with her stomach, she flew back and landed on her butt twenty feet away.

In the stands he heard an intake of breath and he grinned, certain that he'd won this match. He was taken by surprise when, before he could blink an eye, he found a hundred small needles sinking into his soft flesh. _What the… _he thought, and then he saw Tenten smiling through the blood that coated the inside of her mouth. _She's still standing? After that blow! _

"You made this next move much easier for me Neji, thanks for that!" She called and then she wiped a finger across her teeth, taking the blood from it and swiped it across two scrolls which appeared in the air before her she yelled, "Rising Twin Dragons: Metal Style!"

Neji paused, his mind trying to figure out what this strange attack entailed. He'd never heard her use this one before. Of course, he hadn't known she was capable of performing his famous Kaiten either…

He was blinded when the sun caught the scales of the two creatures which leapt forth from the scrolls and into the air above the arena. They were breathtakingly beautiful and infinitely deadly all at once – their shining teeth and scales sharper then any human-made weapon. He heard the crowd catch their breath in horror and delight and found himself doing the same thing. The two dragons disentangled themselves from each other, their silver and golden scales becoming separate as they divebombed him.

Neji had been scared before, but never had he been this thrilled and scared at the same time. It was difficult to be upset at the prospect of dying by the hands of such truly spectacular creatures, but even then he figured that dying wasn't something he wanted to do right then and so he ran for his life.

It wasn't a very Hyuga-like thing to do, he knew, but running was the only thing that could help him at that moment and he wasn't about to let his clan's image come before his life. They should be glad he didn't just sit down and cry like a baby, because that would have been what plenty of shinobi would have done. Those dragons were terrifying!

He was plucked from the ground almost daintily, a cool metallic claw grabbing his midsection and taking him from his pathway out of the arena.

"Hyuga Neji running away! Why I never thought I'd see that!" Whooped Tenten from atop of the golden dragon. He attempted a glare, but couldn't when he was in such an awkward position.

"Tenten. When this is over I will kill you a hundred times over." He vowed.

She became somber, looking him straight into the eye, "I'm sorry Neji. I truly am. I just needed to show you… er… everyone… that I wasn't just some pathetic excuse for a shinobi. I wanted to show them that I could kick ass and the only one who was deemed 'undefeatable' was you and so that meant I had to totally kick your ass. I really hope you don't hate me after this."

Did he hate her? He wondered and then he almost laughed with the ridiculousness of the thought. He couldn't hate Tenten. It wasn't physically possible for him to hate her. She was just too… likable. He couldn't hate the one person who meant more to him then the world. He couldn't hate the person he loved.

He stopped breathing when that thought struck his mind, the overwhelming truth in it causing his brain to go into overload mode. He loved Tenten? When had that happened? When had she become the object of his affection instead of the object of his derision and cold comments? When had she become more to him then words could possibly say?

"Neji? Oh no… you do hate me, don't you! I'm so sorry Neji! I didn't want to humiliate you in this way, but I figured that you would understand… you always seem to understand…" she mumbled, almost to herself.

Neji shook his head at her worry, "I. Don't. Hate. You. Just. Get. Me. Down." He was starting to feel a little sick. His stunning revelation combined with his awkward position in the claws of the dragon left him feeling ill. The last thing he needed to do was puke all over the stadium. That act would definitely get him kicked out of his clan.

"Nope. No getting down until you forfeit." She said and then commanded her dragons (Salt and Pepper, he heard her call them) to do some flips.

"Tenten." He raged through clenched teeth as he tried to control his stomach.

"Neji. The answer is no. You have to give up."

He couldn't do it. No matter what happened, no matter how much he wanted to puke, he couldn't give up. Neji was a Hyuga for Christ's sake! He couldn't give up! So he did the one thing he could do, "Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!" He screamed, shoving almost all of his remaining chakra at the claw which gripped his body.

A second later he was falling through the air, with no way of stopping himself. The dragon hadn't died, of course, but he had expelled enough chakra to leave it wounded. The price of this action would be his death. He felt his shredded jacket spread out behind him, a pathetic attempt to form a parachute, before it blew away completely. He flipped several times, spinning sporadically as he fell towards the Earth. He shut his eyes as it came closer and closer and closer….

"Umph." The ground underneath him felt surprisingly… smooth? He squeezed open one of his exotic eyes to see that beneath him lay...

"Tenten? How the hell did you…" He began, only to trail off as he took in the implications of his situation, "But this… this is… amazing…"

"A compliment? From the Hyuga Neji? Well I never thought I'd ever hear that." Tenten currently sat in front of him, her gloved hands gripping the rough metallic scales of the golden dragon that they now both resided upon. He looked about him and saw that the silver dragon was twirling through the clouds as well, its glistening wings catching the sun and sending sparkles of light shooting every-which-way. Almost blinded, he looked forward again, towards the ecstatic face of the woman in front of him.

"But there is no transfer jutsu for humans… Otherwise people would just travel by transferring themselves or their friends everywhere… so… what was that? How did you manage to stop me from falling? How did you get me up back up here?" He questioned, thinking aloud to her as they flew in circles above the stadium.

Her beautiful brown eyes were as hard as the steel she wielded as she replied, "You had metal on you. I just used my techniques to pull you back up to me… And if you _ever _do something like that again I will kill you. Why can't you just give up? Why can't you just stop being such a stubborn ass! I'm tired of trying to prove to you that I'm not just some pathetic girl. If you want this battle to end with you dying then I can't do that. The only reason I'm fighting you is to prove myself to you – it completely destroys the point if you go throwing yourself to your death the minute I succeed!"

A rare flash of emotion shot through him – he was finding that these strange impulses took over him more and more lately. _What is it about her that brings out these… feelings? _

"You… are trying to impress _me_?" He asked, wondering if he'd heard her wrong. With all the wind and the sounds of the angry crowd below (they didn't like not being able to see the fight, especially after it had turned out so shockingly different then expected), he wouldn't be surprised if he'd mixed up everything she'd just said.

"Yes." She yelled back to him through gritted teeth, her hair almost coming loose as the speed of the dragons increased.

"But… why?"

She laughed wildly, the steel still showing in her eyes, as she replied, "Gee… I wonder why I would feel the need to show someone who hates me that I'm better then them."

"Hates you? Hates you? I could never hate you! I lo… like you for who you are Tenten. I don't care if you're the weakest genin or the strongest ANBU. You didn't have to go this far just to prove to me you're stronger then I thought you were." Neji protested her vicious words, his voice colored with disbelief and shock.

_You almost told her you loved her. _His inner voice remarked. It didn't sound teasing today, just as if it was remarking on something boring and obvious, like the weather.

He couldn't fully think about this strange emotion called love right now. He would have to file it away in his mind, to contemplate later. Right now he had to make sure he could keep his facial expressions under control and thinking about this new thing called "love" would only ruin his carefully maintained indifference towards all that existed.

"You don't hate me?" Her eyes lost their steel, becoming once again bright and bubbly. "You mean it really, Neji? He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her assumption that he could possibly hate her – he figured that by doing that he'd earn another fall from her deadly creatures and he wasn't willing to bet he would survive this one.

"I mean it Tenten."

"So… I trained for two years for nothing?" She sounded angry now and he inched back from her just in case she took her frustration out on him.

"Hn… no." He replied.

She stayed quiet after that, seeming to contemplate her own revelations.

The golden dragon performed a few tricks that left the spectators cheering and "encoring" them from down below. As they descended, he turned to ask her again, "So… when you saved me before… that was simply calling on the metal in my jacket?"

Tenten turned her troubled eyes his way, her tiny mouth pulled down into a throughtful frown, "Well… yes and no. You see, my clan's abilities are the control of weapon-related metals, so I couldn't be certain you would have any such thing on you. What I performed was the same jutsu I would use for pulling my weapons out of scrolls, except I called on every single piece of metal that was on your body. Fortunately," Here a wicked smile flashed across her features, "I taught you well. You had at least 15 knives hidden on your personage, as well as the poison-tipped needles that I had you keep in your mouth just in case you were in a sticky situation. On top of that, I ground up some of my old weapons and had Hinata sprinkle the metal in your breakfast this morning…" at the look of pure horror mingled with disgust she hastily added, "I made sure they were clean!"

"You put _metal_ in my cereal? Just how long have you been preparing for this battle?"

She scratched the back of her head sheepily, a slight blush making its way across her cheeks, "er… a while. Like… three years."

A single black eyebrow was raised in response to this. Neji couldn't help but marvel at the detail her plan took. He had severely underestimated her. And Hinata… "Hinata? Was she in on all this?"

"Um… that depends on what you mean by 'in'. If you mean she was a part of the fight then no, but she might have helped a little bit on the side." Tenten was being deliberately vague – obviously trying to keep his cousin from his wrath – and Neji narrowed his eyes at her as he pried for more details.

"Just what type of stuff on the side did she help out with? Other then putting old weaponry in my Cheerios?" The mesmerizing creatures were slipping slowly towards the ground, circling the arena and coming dangerously close to the crowd as they attempted to find room to land.

"Um… research, training, cleaning my weapons, healing me, monitoring you for any new techniques, and um… well… pretty much everything outside of this actual battle. She was the one who first saw Salt and Pepper come into being. She named them, actually." Tenten's eyes glowed as she remembered the triumphant feeling that had raged inside her chest that day, several months ago, when she'd first brought her dragons into being. Neji's own chest constricted at her happiness. _Just let it go Neji… worry about love and stuff later. It has no place on the battlefield._ He told himself and the feeling resided, allowing him to breathe again.

"Tenten…" They had landed now, and the golden monstrosity waited for them to dismount from its back.

"Yes Neji?"

In reply he did nothing but turn to the Tsunade, who was watching with narrowed blue eyes. She had taken in the strange fight without comment or change in expression. Now, as Neji's silvery eyes turned towards her, she smiled and nodded to him, almost as if in encouragement. "I… I forfeit."

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Tenten couldn't begin to describe the thunder in her heart, her head, her entire being at that moment. It was as if all the feelings of inferiority that had forced her to hate herself and her weaknesses were gone and in their place was pure elation. As she stumbled out of the stadium after Tsunade's announcement of the victor, the strange feeling of weightlessness had her unable to concentrate on anything except Neji, who walked beside her, glancing at her every-so-often as if he was trying to remind himself that he'd done the right thing by giving up.

"It'll take some time…" He mumbled, his scratched up face remaining in its usually stony expression, "… to get used to an undefeatable Tenten."

"Undefeatable?" She echoed, unable to form any coherent thoughts quite yet.

"Well… maybe not undefeatable… but certainly more deadly and powerful then I had dared hoped for when we become genin so long ago." She started, taking in his reference to their first meeting, and looked at him with that deer-in-the-headlights look she was so good at.

And then he, Hyuga Neji, chuckled.

_Oh my God, the world is going to end. _She thought as she listened to the pleasing bass sound.

Then – _Oh my God, the world didn't end – _when she realized they were still alive.

"You… You chuckled." She stuttered, still shocked at this rare slip up. It was so uncommon for him to show any sort of happy or pleased emotion, even in front of her.

He smoothed his hand over his face, smearing the blood that had gathered on a cut right next to his lip, in an attempt to erase his mistake.

They had stopped now and both stared at each other for what seemed like an infinite amount of time.

Tenten was thinking about the first time they'd met. She'd been so overly-enthusiastic then, so pleased to get the chance to make a new family, that she hadn't even bothered being polite when she'd first met him. She winced as she recalled her loud greeting and then smiled when she recalled how he'd managed to accept her despite her horrendous first impression. _That was probably only because Lee made an even worse impression – calling Neji a girl is not the way to form a lasting friendship with him._

She couldn't tell what Neji was thinking at that moment. He was still trying to iron out his emotions, but he wasn't using his hands to do it now, as they were both in his pants pockets. She was probably one of the only people who could tell that he was undergoing some extreme emotional battle. The slight crease between his eyebrows, the turmoil in his eyes, the way the corner of his mouth was turned down into an almost unnoticeable frown, gave it all away.

Tenten stepped forward and gingerly, almost as if afraid of ruining his carefully manufactured façade, reached out a hand to touch the blood on his lip.

_He might even love you… if you told him how you really felt._

Wasn't that what Hinata had told her the other day? She could see the conflict etched into Neji's flawless features and somehow she knew they were all of her own making. Her fingers barely grazed the top of his bloodied lip in a gentle caress.

_He is more capable of love then you might suspect and he isn't going to be able to deal with his feelings if you don't show him how to._

He didn't move as she took a tentative step forward, his eyes too intent upon her face. They still raged with unknown emotion and she could tell her touch was doing nothing to help him solve that which was driving him insane at that moment. His breathing hitched as she traced the outline of his mouth, drawing a line around his smooth lips and then to his rough jaw.

_I do NOT like that arrogant jerk! I don't love him!_

She remembered screaming that at Hinata in her desperation to deny her own feelings. Now… she realized she'd been wrong, so completely and devastatingly wrong.

_Someday soon, Tenten… you will have to acknowledge that you love him._

She knew now that there was no more denying it – she was immeasurably, hopelessly, and incontrovertibly in love with him.

**O – O – O – O – O – O - - O – O – O – O – O – O - - O – O – O – O – O – O - - O – O – O – O – O – O - - **

Hyuga Neji could only stare as she dropped her hand, her chocolate eyes wide with the same realization he had come to only minutes before, and ran away from him and the cheering fans behind them. He watched her retreating back with the same stoic expression that he watched everything else…

While a battle greater then the physical one he'd just fought raged on inside him.

**O – O – O – O – O – O - - O – O – O – O – O – O - - O – O – O – O – O – O - - O – O – O – O – O – O - - **

**Ok, so yeah…**

**Majorly overdramatic there near the end… I wish writing came with its own personal background music. That way I could totally add in some dramatic soundtrack music there in the end. Oh well...**

**Anyways, tell me what you think please!**

**I could do with constructive criticism (take note of the "constructive" before the criticism. Don't just nail me with mean words that will make me go cry in a corner).**

**K, thanks!**

 **(The review button is right there – pretty please press it!!)**


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